The Good Girl

By: Christy Barritt

Narrated by: Nikki Zakocs

What's a good girl to do when life goes bad?

Tara Lancaster can sing Amazing Grace in three harmonies, two languages, and interpret it for the hearing impaired. She can list the Bible canon backward, forward, and alphabetized. And the only time she ever missed church was at seventeen because she had pneumonia and her mom made her stay home.

But when her life shatters around her and her reputation is left in ruins, Tara decides escape is the only option. She flees halfway across the country to dog-sit, but the quiet anonymity she needs isn't waiting in her sister's house. Instead she finds a knife with a threatening message, a fame-hungry friend, a too-hunky neighbor, and evidence of...a ghost?

Following all the rules has gotten her nowhere. And nothing she learned in Sunday School can tell her where to go from there.

©2013 Christy Barritt (P)2022 Tantor

Great story line!

Loved everything about it from the narration to the well developed characters to the story line!

The plot

Good book, a little more detail than usual . Ms. Barritt always writes
Books that keep my attention. I would recommend any books she has written

Delightful and funny!

Even though this story is entertaining and made me chuckle, it examines the struggles Christians face with doubt. I found the story to be life-giving.

This Is One of Those Books

This is one of those books that I find hard to rate. The story is beautiful snd beautifully read. The way it is told was hard for me to enjoy.

The book is a really well-written, character driven story. The characters are well-developed and likable. There is a lot of humor.

The main character, Tara, goes through a life-changing and devastating travesty. Her story is told with kindness and tenderness. Most of it is told in the internal dialogue of the main character.

There is another life threatening plot going on adding intrigue to the story.

My problem is that I really do not enjoy books written in this particular style. First, the story is told mostly in the internal dialogue of the main character. The plot does not get advanced with this writing style, and the writer tends to be didactic or repetitive. Barritt is both.

In addition, I really do not enjoy mysteries that are not unraveled until a big reveal at the end. This book is over 500 pages long. Only in the last two chapters is the murder mystery revealed. Very few clues are given prior to the next to last chapter so we only learn what the characters DO NOT know up till that point. It makes for a very tedious listen.

Finally, Tara, the main character, tries to keep a secret. True to the trope, the secret is then revealed publicly in front of her love interest and friends before she can tell them personally. I normally dislike this trope, but this book took that dislike up a level for me. The secret made no sense because according to the story, her problems were already public knowledge, revealed on the internet, for 2 years prior. Her attempt to keep such a scandal secret was ridiculous given the story’s own logic. I ended up sometimes identifying with and empathizing with Tara and sometimes thinking she was an idiot (an idiot for more reasons than just this).

What makes the story a good one is that Tara had to deal with the same things a lot of people who grew up in an idealistic Christian home have to deal with, namely disappointment, disillusionment, and betrayal. Life doesn’t always live up to our expectations. People let us down. God seems distant. We think we are doing right but we really are not. Pride and fear keeps us from asking for help. Christy Barritt tells a story of grace and beauty with a resolution that epitomizes “you find out who your friends are.”

suspenseful

I love the fact that this book kept you on your toes. there was some romance and a lot of suspense

Excellent story

I wasn't sure what to expect on this Christian themed story. I was pleasantly surprised. it's an excellent story, plot and murder mystery with a haunted house, lovely characters and a lot of heartfelt emotions. It speaks of how we should treat each other, not just for appearances but from the heart.

Dealing with difficulty

The trials that lead to breakthrough growth. The characters weren’t perfect just people with different personalities and problems that made them real.

I enjoyed this story of faith restored

That God will prevail in life. He never leaves us I enjoyed the story tremendously

Great Read/ Listen

I absolutely enjoy this book. I do appreciate the Christian tone but more than that I love that this book gives real life doubts and fears and how the characters overcome them. I will most likely be listening to it several more times.

Not Up to Christy Barritt's Standards

Overall a decent Christian mystery, but the dialogue was flat. Perhaps it would have been much better with a different narrator. This one did terrible character voices. I had to force myself to make it to the end. Christy Barritt is one of my top three Christian Mystery writers, and my very favorite choice for re-listening, but this one doesn't make the cut.